World Series Diary: Sights, Scenes From Little League Heaven

From Westport To Williamsport

The Courant's Matt McDonough and Colin McDonough are on the ground in Williamsport, Pa., as the boys from Westport continue their perfect summer journey that they hope will end in a Little League World Series championship. Get in on all the sights and scenes and sounds from the center of the Little League universe as the McDonoughs report back in this online diary of all the happenings on the field and off. Check back here often for updates throughout the day!

Saturday, 3:45 p.m.: Japan Will Be No easy Opponent

Japan beat Mexico 3-2 in the International championship. It is the fourth straight year Japan has reached the World Series final. The Tokyo infield is as good as we've seen here in Williamsport. They are very fundamentally sound. If Westport should beat California, it goes without saying that the World Championship against Japan will be the toughest test of the tournament.

Colin

Saturday, 3:28 p.m.: Japan Is In, Now ...

The Lamade Stadium hill is packed with people while the grandstand is half full as people who watched Japan beat Mexico, 3-2, for the International title game file out and families and fans for the US championship game trickle in to the grandstand seating. Chad Knight is on the mound for Westport while Nick Mora takes the hill for Chula Vista. Westport's lineup is as follows: Ricky Offenberg, Max Popken, Knight, Harry Azadian, Matt Stone, Tatin Llamas, Christopher Drbal, Charlie Roof, Drew Rogers. Per usual, Alex Reiner and Matt Brown will enter the game off the bench.

Matt

Saturday, 1:10 p.m.: Trying ... Trying To Stay Loose

It's hard not to be loose after coming back from a seven-run deficit to make the U.S. championship game. Westport arrived for batting practice at the cages around 1 p.m. with a lot more smiles than day's past. A couple golf carts that drove by yelling, "Go Westport," were met by acknowledgement from the coaches. After Charlie Roof had a few nice cuts in the cage, manager Tim Rogers yelled, "The 'Roof' is on fire."

It's championship Saturday in Williamsport, and both match ups are much anticipated rematches. The International title game kicks things off at 12:30 p.m. with Tokyo, Japan facing Tijuana, Mexico. Japan beat Mexico 5-2 in their first match up. It is the 15th meeting between the two nations, with Japan holding a 9-5 edge. And Westport gets the rematch it wanted with Chula Vista, Ca at 3:30 p.m. California beat Connecticut 6-3 in nine innings on Wednesday night. It's also 50 years to the day that California beat Connecticut to win the Little League World Series.

Colin

Saturday, 12:45 a.m.: Classic? Epic? How About Just Great!

A baseball fan from New Jersey stopped by to watch Westport's practice Wednesday morning after their 6-3 loss to Chula Vista. He said to me that New England vs. California was "a classic Little League game." If Wednesday was a classic, Friday was an epic. The great thing about Little League baseball is that these young athletes can't hide their emotions like pros do. When Washington exploded for 10 runs in the fourth inning, you could see the entire Westport infield and outfield with dropped heads, while each base runner seemed to float back to the dugout high-fiving teammates. The next inning it was Westport's turn to greet the likes of Alex Reiner, Max Popken and Chad Knight at home plate. After Washington was forced to take out starter Dalton Chandler because of the 85-pitch limit, Westport's line up became an Algebra problem they couldn't solve. The Northwest fielders and bullpen were desperately trying to figure out how to get an out. When Knight ended the game with an RBI single in the seventh, the emotion we're accustomed to in youth sports was on display in front of our eyes. Knight was being mobbed by teammates, while Washington players couldn't hold in their tears, or bring themselves to leave the field.

Colin

Saturday, 12:15 a.m.: How Quickly Things Can Change

The applause from the Westport crowd when their team came off the field following a nightmarish 10-run fourth inning that put them in a 12-5 hole didn't sound like a rallying cry. From my chair at the top of the grandstand seating along the first base line, it sounded like one last salute, one last standing ovation, congratulating and thanking the Westport Little Leaguers for an incredible summer. The next inning, that same crowd was on their feet once again. This time, they were cheering and roaring loudly with each hit, each run that brought Westport closer to tying the game. By the time Chad Knight's walk-off single landed in left field, the Westport faithful's cheers seemed only a fraction as loud as they were in the seven-run fifth inning, their vocal chords having been drained by an astonishing comeback.